Italian wines have been gaining greater appreciation in Singapore over the past few years, much thanks to the increased popularity of Italian cuisine (more than just pizza, pasta and parma ham...) among Singaporeans and Expats.
However, like Italian cuisine, Italian wine is just too diverse from region to region and hence didn't received the same recognition here (due to lack of education) compared to its traditional "Old World" rival of French wines or the more affordable but consistent wines from the "New World"of America or Australia.
Fortunately, there are both formal and informal Italian wine appreciation classes or roadshows conducted by several local wine merchants as well as Italian Chamber of Commence in Singapore (ICCS) for the benefit of wine enthusiasts here.
One such event is the Top Italian Wines Roadshow that was in town recently to introduce their exquisite, top notch labels to wine connoisseurs in Singapore.
Top Italian Wines Roadshow @ CHIJMES, Singapore. Photo credit Gambero Rosso
The one day stop-over at CHIJMES was the first of the three South East Asia roadshows, which included Thailand and the Philippines, organised by Gambero Rosso (www.gamberorosso.it), the leader in publishing and training in the field of Italian wine and food.In its ninth edition of the worldwide Italian wine tour, visitors to the show were feted with tasting tables offering almost 300 wines from Sixty-five wineries, many came with famous and prestigious names.
Marco Sabellico, Senior Editor of Gambero Rosso
Lorenzo Ruggeri, the International Editor for Gambero Rosso was at Master Class to introduce Italian wines with Lim Hwee Peng
On the education front, there were comprehensive program of seminars (aka Master Classes) led by the Gambero Rosso’s experts, namely Marco Sabellico (Senior Editor) and Lorenzo Ruggeri (International Editor), for the few lucky public who were keen to learn more about Italian wines that day.There were 3 sessions of master class for wine enthusiasts to savour 20 signature wines, one from each winery.
All of the wines featured are rated with the Tre Bicchieri mark. The Gambero symbol of wine excellence, Tre Bicchieri (three glasses), has become the worldwide-accepted benchmark award, and an unquestioned reference point and a guarantee of premium quality. It has even been chosen as the criteria for access into some of the most important wine monopolies in the world.Mine favorite? Well there were honestly many to my delight.
From the territory of Franciacorta is a section of the Province of Brescia in the Italian Region of Lombardy that I have discovered two fantastic sparkling wines : Franciacorta Brut Cuvee Prestige - Ca' del Bosco by Santa Margherita Gruppo Vinicolo and Franciacorta Animante Brut by Barone Pizzini.
It was difficult to find a winner between the two as both were subtly perfumed with fruits such as green apple and lime, while giving a dryer, slight residual sugar taste overall.
From Italy's northeast and borders Slovenia, I found a great white wine in Braide Alte 2014 by Livon, which also produced great red wine in Chianti Classico Lucarello 2011 Borgo Salcetino (DOCG).
With its interesting blend of 5 different variety of grapes that included Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Moscato Giallo, Braide Alte 2014 (DOC) has more intensity and structure with taste of honey and a subtle typical fruit sense that could be enjoyed on its own without any food pairing.
Let us all pray that this impressive Italian winery finds a local distributor soon to distribute these amazing wines here.
As for the red, Barolo del Comune di Barolo 2011 by Marchesi di Barolo and Amarone della Valpolicella Sel. Antonio Castagnedi 2012 by Tenuta Sant' Antonio were my top picks simply because they reminded me the taste of the pride of Italian red wines. Having said that, they are best to be consumed in the years to come under proper storage.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organiser for the invitation to this roadshow as I have learnt a lot from both speaking to the passionate representative of each winery as well to Lorenzo Ruggeri, the International Editor for Gambero Rosso, for his detailed explanatory during media walkabout as well as at the Master Class with Lim Hwee Peng, CWE, FWS.
The Top Italian Wines Roadshow was truly a world class event not only to the local wine industry players but also served as an education platform to allow more people to understand and appreciate the beauty of Italian wine making. I am so looking forward to the tenth edition of this event in 2017!
About Top Italian Wines Roadshow and Gambero Rosso collaboration
Since 2007, Top Italian Wines Roadshow has become a well-established strategic platform
for penetrating emerging markets and grasping new business opportunities. Italian wine
offerings are so rich that they are often confusing for international consumers. This is
why the Gambero Rosso selections represent a guaranteed way for promoting
knowledgeable, attentive and curious development of Italian territories. The basic
framework is the extremely rigid selective criteria of quality used for decades by the
Vini d’Italia guide, now in its 29th edition. Every year, the guide evaluates over 40,000
national wines.
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